Advertising is presented in one or more of a variety of communication media, such as online, in periodicals, on billboards, or by radio or TV broadcast, to name just a few of many examples. With the rise of the Internet, online mediums are increasingly being used for distributing ads or other content in novel ways. Advertisers can create an advertising campaign that seeks to target ads to a particular demographic. For example, a website devoted to a particular trade or hobby is a popular location for businesses specializing in that trade or hobby to advertise to potential customers in an effort to increase their sales. The increase in advertising has created an incentive for targeting advertisements to consumers.
Success in distribution of content (e.g., ads) can be defined in terms of one or more measureable entities or variables. In online advertising, ad performance is sometimes quantified in terms of a number of distinct conversions of the ad, wherein a conversion is defined as the occurrence of at least one specific interaction. For example, a conversion criterion can require a user click (or other selection) of a displayed ad; or the user click plus some modicum of user activity on the advertiser's landing page; or the user click plus a completed transaction on the landing page.